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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 124 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: kid · cell · march · stock · kick · tear · chest · trunk

  1. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  2. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  3. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  4. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  5. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  6. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  7. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  8. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  9. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  10. He was locked up in a ________________.
  11. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  12. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  13. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  14. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  15. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  16. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  17. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  18. The ________________ market has crashed.
  19. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  20. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  21. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  22. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  23. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  24. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. tear — to rip
  2. kid — to tease
  3. kick — with a leg
  4. kick — in football
  5. trunk — of an elephant
  6. tear — from crying
  7. chest — a box
  8. march — the month
  9. trunk — of a tree
  10. cell — in a prison
  11. march — music
  12. chest — of your body
  13. stock — goods
  14. march — the month
  15. cell — in biology
  16. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  17. trunk — of a car
  18. stock — shares
  19. cell — a phone
  20. kid — child
  21. stock — a soup base
  22. chest — of your body
  23. kick — a thrill
  24. tear — from crying

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com